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#lovely #Godly #relevant

Month: June 2018

Everyone wants to be recognized, Everyone wants to be appreciated but not everyone deserves it. Recognition is gotten by making genuine sacrifice. What have done to earn that Award, Certificate, applaud, ovation etc.

There are things that motivates us to be great and that includes the life story of another. Most people are interested in the glory without trying to know the story. Every gift, idea, Talent given to you was to render service to humanity,a song writer once wrote,

Its in the process of genuinely serving that recognition would be giving. Let the whole world see the light in you.

Matthew 5:16

King James VersionLet your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Stay Close, let’s learn from the life of Mother Theresa.

Mother Teresa (1910–1997) was a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor and destitute around the world. She spent many years in Calcutta, India where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation devoted to helping those in great need. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and became a symbol of charitable, selfless work. In 2016, Mother Teresa was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa.

“It is not how much we do,
but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give,
but how much love we put in the giving.”

– Mother Teresa

Short Biography of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Little is known about her early life, but at a young age, she felt a calling to be a nun and serve through helping the poor. At the age of 18, she was given permission to join a group of nuns in Ireland. After a few months of training, with the Sisters of Loreto, she was then given permission to travel to India. She took her formal religious vows in 1931 and chose to be named afterSt Therese of Lisieux– the patron saint of missionaries.

On her arrival in India, she began by working as a teacher; however, the widespread poverty of Calcutta made a deep impression on her, and this led to her starting a new order called “The Missionaries of Charity”. The primary objective of this mission was to look after people, who nobody else was prepared to look after. Mother Teresa felt that serving others was a fundamental principle of the teachings of Jesus Christ. She often mentioned the saying of Jesus,

“Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.”

As Mother Teresa said herself:

“Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service .” – Mother Teresa

She experienced two particularly traumatic periods in Calcutta. The first was the Bengal famine of 1943 and the second was the Hindu/Muslim violence in 1946, before the partition of India. In 1948, she left the convent to live full-time among the poorest of Calcutta. She chose to wear a white Indian sari, with a blue border, out of respect for the traditional Indian dress. For many years, Mother Teresa and a small band of fellow nuns survived on minimal income and food, often having to beg for funds. But, slowly her efforts with the poorest were noted and appreciated by the local community and Indian politicians.

In 1952, she opened her first home for the dying, which allowed people to die with dignity. Mother Teresa often spent time with those who were dying. Some have criticised the lack of proper medical attention, and their refusal to give painkillers. Others say that it afforded many neglected people the opportunity to die knowing that someone cared.

Her work spread around the world. By 2013, there were 700 missions operating in over 130 countries. The scope of their work also expanded to include orphanages and hospices for those with terminal illnesses.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

—- Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa never sought to convert those of another faith. Those in her hospices were given the religious rites appropriate to their faith. However, she had a very firm Catholic faith and took a strict line on abortion, the death penalty and divorce – even if her position was unpopular. Her whole life was influenced by her faith and religion, even though at times she confessed she didn’t feel the presence of God.

The Missionaries of Charity now has branches throughout the world including branches in the developed world where they work with the homeless and people affected by AIDS. In 1965, the organisation became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

In the 1960s, the life of Mother Teresa was brought to a wider public attention by Malcolm Muggeridge who wrote a book and produced a documentary called “Something Beautiful for God”.

In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.” She didn’t attend the ceremonial banquet but asked that the $192,000 fund be given to the poor.

In later years, she was more active in western developed countries. She commented that though the West was materially prosperous, there was often a spiritual poverty.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

-— Mother Teresa

When she was asked how to promote world peace, she replied,”Go home and love your family”.

Over the last two decades of her life, Mother Teresa suffered various health problems, but nothing could dissuade her from fulfilling her mission of serving the poor and needy. Until her very last illness she was active in travelling around the world to the different branches of The Missionaries of Charity. During her last few years, she metPrincess Dianain the Bronx, New York. The two died within a week of each other.

Following Mother Teresa’s death, the Vatican began the process of beatification, which is the second step on the way to canonization and sainthood. Mother Teresa was formally beatified in October 2003 byPope John Paul II. In September 2015, Pope Francis declared:

“Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,”

“She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.”

Mother Teresa was a living saint who offered a great example and inspiration to the world.

Awards given to Mother Teresa

The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. (1971)

Kennedy Prize (1971)

The Nehru Prize –“for the promotion of international peace and understanding”(1972)

The term “Grateful” is an act / feeling of showing appreciation for something done or received.

Many times, we get too carried away searching for the things we think we need while on the other hand, there are things we have but have never been grateful for. Some other times, we get too comfortable requesting and requesting forgetting that the things we have are priceless and more valuable than the things we need.

A true heart of gratitude never stops given thanks for what is in his/her possession. Life is flooded with a quest to receive more, Humans are insatiable but a true heart of gratitude never stops receiving.

When you appreciate God for what you have, you are simply opening the door to receive more.

King James Version

Psalm 24 vs 1

The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell there in.

You serve a mighty God, the one who sits in heaven and make the earth His foot stool. He has everything in His possession and they are all yours but you must understand the need to appreciate the ones you have.

There are a lot of things to be grateful for:

The air you breathe

The shoes on your feet

The cloths on your back

The ability to see, hear, smell,etc

The food and drink you take in

The functioning of all organs in the body

The freedom to move your body as you want

The ability to sleep

The capacity to wake up

The projects you’ve accomplished

The seasons you went through

The lessons you learnt

The experiences that didn’t take away your life

The healing you received

The battles you won etc

We can go on and on…………..

God is committed to our wellbeing, let’s just learn the art of gratitude.

Life generally comes with various phases and seasons as it was explained in the previous article. These seasons comes with lessons, regrets, challenges, joy, happiness, sadness depending on what season of life you are in. The season is not the major focus, how we react in those times is what really matters.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you prayed so fervent, cried so frequent, wished so much , thought so hard and yet you cant really feel any result. You stay prepared to pray but you don’t know what to say to this awesome God. You know He is capable of doing anything but yet you feel nothing is being done. The only thing to do is Trust.

Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth and ability of someone or something.

Trust is an expression of faith. When you feel nothing is working, when you feel your words are empty, when you feel you really have nothing more to offer, when you feel the whole world has turned their back on you, Just Trust.

Trust that if He said it, He would do it. Trust that He loves you enough to share in your problems, Trust that He is totally concerned about your wellbeing.

King James Version

Proverbs 3:5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding

Just Trust Him………..

Your Understanding cannot take you far but God can…….

King James Version

Psalm 46:10Be still, and know that IamGod: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

I recently read an awesome post that says……… I paraphrase,

“When you feel that God isn’t there with you during your trying time, remember the teacher is always quiet during the test”.

Every good teacher has given you the best study and explanation you need , so? He expects that during the test, you pour out all that you have learnt in time past

. That is the case with a believer and his trying time, you give out all that you have learnt from the bible during your test. God is there to help you out. He is there to ensure all goes right while He trusts you to continually make the right decision.

King James version

Deuteronomy 31:6Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, heit isthat doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

He is right there. Just trust Him. Everything you need is in Him, trust Him. That’s the way you can express your faith.